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Parents demand end of public subsidies for private school

The Canadian Press
Published Sunday, June 18, 2017 1:37PM EDT
Last Updated Monday, June 19, 2017 7:56AM EDT

A new parents group is calling for the end of school segregation in school, saying students in the province are separated by the level of their parents’ wealth and by levels of talent.

The Movement for School Togetherness is calling for the end of public financing of private schools, the abolition of selecting specific public school students for specific programs and improvements to assistance levels for struggling students.

The group is also calling for more enriched options for high-performing public school students.

According to the parents, the foundation of Quebec’s education system is broken by the segregation between the public and private systems but also by the public system itself, where they say children with higher grades get selected to go into special programs.

Co-ordinator Stephane Vigneault said the current system is inefficient and unequitable, pointing to a dropout rate of 25 per cent. He said Quebec students’ results in international examinations “stagnate, at best.”

According to Vigneault, the problem isn’t just one of funding. In recent years, the provincial government has made several cuts to education spending.